• Legal Culture in the Danelaw: a Study of III Æthelred

    Author(s):
    Jake Stattel (see profile)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Early Medieval, Medieval Studies
    Subject(s):
    Middle Ages, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Social history--Medieval, Law, Medieval
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Anglo-Saxon Studies, early medieval history, legal history, Viking Age
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/9g0q-de86
    Abstract:
    Viking invasions and settlements left substantial legacies in late Anglo-Saxon England, attested in legal texts as a division between areas under Dena lage and those under Ængla lage. But how legal practice in Scandinavian-settled England functioned and differed from Anglo-Saxon law remains unclear. III Æthelred, the ‘Wantage Code’, provides critical evidence for legal customs being practised in the Danelaw at the close of the tenth century. An investigation into the code’s peace protections re-examines the argument for occurrences of communal liability in England before the Normans. Wantage’s restrictions on access to law and the need to ‘buy law’ suggest a departure from English conceptions of rights. Provisions on proof in legal cases, including a ‘jury’ of thegns, denote alternative measures of the truth. These analyses depict a Danelaw legal culture that reflects viking army origins, a Scandinavian preference for informal dispute-settlement (‘love’) and the concerns of a landholding Anglo-Scandinavian elite.
    Notes:
    Open Access (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0263675121000065)
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0263675121000065
    Publisher:
    Cambridge University Press (CUP)
    Pub. Date:
    2022-10-19
    Journal:
    Anglo-Saxon England
    Volume:
    48
    Page Range:
    163 - 203
    ISSN:
    0263-6751,1474-0532
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    1 year ago
    License:
    Attribution
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